Paul Green Multimedia Award-Winning Blog

Brenda Kay Ledford's blog, "Clay County Yore," won the 2017 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians.


For information:  www.ncsocietyofhistorians.org

Blanche's Bobbed Hair

The rage in the mountain town of Hayesville, North Carolina during the 1940s was bobbed hair and curls.  Those with straight hair got permanent waves, but many women simply set their hair at home using pin curls or twisted up in rags.


Movie stars such as Betty Grable and Ava Gardner influenced the fashion of women.  My aunts got hairstyles like these glamorous actresses.


My mother, Blanche, dreamed of getting her hair bobbed, too.  She enjoyed the cinema and these stars provided an escape from the gloom of World War II.


War influenced how women wore their hair.  Working in the fields, factories, or armed services, required hairstyles that would not get caught in machinery or in the way.


Many women who worked in factories wore trousers.  Granny Trese didn't approve of her daughters wearing pants.  She was a religious person and thought females should not dress like men.


Much to Granny's chagrin, her daughters wore trousers at home.  Pants were more comfortable than dresses to do housework.


Although Blanche never wore trousers, she still desired to bob her hair and get a permanent wave.  Of course Granny Trease frowned on that.


But Blanche's fiancée, Rondy Ledford, helped her fulfill a dream. He was serving with the Civilian Conservation Corps in Aquone, North Carolina.  One weekend Rondy came home and took Blanche to a movie.  She told him she wanted to bob her hair and get a permanent wave, but didn't have the money.  He gave her the cash to go to the beauty shop.


On Monday morning, Blanche sneaked into Mary Jo Burch's Beauty Shop.  She told her she wanted to bob her hair and get a perm.  When Blanche saw the wicked- looking permanent machine, it scared her to death.  She was afraid it would electrocute her.


But Mary Jo assured Blanche it was safe.  The machine had clips that hung from above and heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.  Dampened hair steamed and curled as it was heated on rods.


The machine got so hot that Mary Jo had to fan Blanche's head constantly.  The beautician and customer ran the risk of serious burns.


Blanche's heart raced and she broke into a sweat.  She promised herself if the beauty shop did not catch on fire, she would never get another permanent.


Hours later Blanche dragged out of Mary Jo's Beauty Shop with stiff and brittle hair.  Her fiancée loved her new hairstyle, but Granny Trese just rolled her eyes.


by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

The wicked-looking permanent wave machine!

Matheson Cove Memories

Bob and Minnie Matheson Ledford family:
left to right:  front row:  Granddaddy Bob and Grandma Minnie Ledford
middle row:  Reba Ledford Rigsbee, Robenia Ledford Merritt, Rena Ledford Matheson, and Ray
last row:  Reuben Ledford, Rondy Ledford, Ralph Ledford, and Robert Ledford


Matheson Cove Memories


Spinning mud,
marred to the axles
as it bounced
over ruts into
the Matheson Cove,
it splashed barefooted
through Hyatt-Mill Creek,
fished with a cane pole,
picked wild huckleberries
for jelly and pies,
robbed the beehive,
gathered eight children
around the supper table,
their names began with R,
spread sourwood honey
on catheads smothered
with fresh-churned butter,
gobbled bowls of roasting ears,
green beans, taters
and crumbled cornbread
into a glass of buttermilk,
hooked old Bess and Kate
to the plow and worked
the new ground,
grew red geraniums
beside the log cabin,
rubbed overalls on the board
until the hands bled,
scurried through the field
and fed the cattle fodder,
swept through the cove
scattering apple seeds
on Shewbird Mountain,
sawed its fiddle,
danced in the old red barn,
shimmied over the ridge
and turned the road
into a silver ribbon.
           --Brenda Kay Ledford

Great-Grandpa's Apple Orchard

Great-Grandpa Dallas Matheson owned 300 acres of land in the Matheson Cove section of Clay County, North Carolina in 1844.  His property included half of Shewbird Mountain.


His ancestors departed the Scottish Highlands in 1772 and sailed into the harbor of the United States of America.  They were some of the earliest settlers in present Clay County, NC.


Great-Grandpa Dallas was a learned man and spoke correct and distinct English.  He read many books and so did his children.  He and Great-Grandma Martha Norwood Matheson had three girls and three boys.  Minnie Lee Matheson was my grandmother and married Robert "Bob" Ledford in 1916.


Great-Grandpa Dallas was a farmer.  He grew an apple orchard above the frost line on Shewbird Mountain.  He raised the black beauty apple that was so red it looked black.  The Ben Davis was light with small streaks and white inside.  Other apples included the horse apple, hog sweet, red June, striped June, striped May, pumpkin apple, queen pippin, pound apple, and others with no names.


Each fall my family took a sled and mule on Shewbird Mountain and hauled apples to the house to store in the cellar.  They also dried apples on trays outside in the sun.


Dried apples were delicious, especially when made into fried pies or a stack cake.  It was made with five or six thin layers.  Dried apples were cooked with a little sugar and cinnamon then spread between the layers.  It was best when soaked for a few days.


Here's my grandmother's recipe for the stack cake:


Great-Grandma Martha's Dried Apple Stack Cake


2 cups dried apples                                                        1 cup raisins
1 cup sugar                                                                     1 cup molasses
2 eggs                                                                             1 cup milk
3 cups or more of flour                                                   1 teaspoon soda
2/3 cup baking powder                                                    nutmeg and cinnamon
lard


Soak apples in water long enough to make soft.  Then chop them to about the size of raisins, and boil them 15 minutes in the molasses.  Add nutmeg and cinnamon to taste.


Mix eggs and sugar, add enough lard until it looks like a biscuit dough.  Add flour, baking powder, soda, add enough milk to make dough soft.  Mix in raisins.


Turn dough onto floured surface and roll in thin circles to fit black iron frying pan.  Bake in moderate woodstove oven until golden brown.


Spread cooked apple mixture between layers.  Will make 5 to 6 layer cake.


Put a dish rag over the cake and soak it for a few days before serving.


by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

The Singing Convention

 

            The sun ricocheted like a ruby above Shewbird Mountain and honeysuckle scented the Matheson Cove when we went to the singing convention.  The family tumbled out of featherbeds as the guineas squawked on that summer morning.

            Ma hummed the hymn, “Just Over in the Glory-Land,” as she baked bread in the Dutch oven.  My brothers toted firewood into the kitchen.

            My sisters made up the featherbeds and dressed baby Ray.

            All our names began with the letter “r.”  Ma called me Rondy.  I didn’t like being the oldest.  Then came Ralph, Reba, Rena, Robert, Reuben, Robenia, and Ray.  Robbie died at birth.

            Ma and Pa got our names mixed up.  I reckon I answered to anything.

            That morning Pa called, “Ralph.  I mean Rondy.  Help me feed the livestock.”

            I gave the mules, Bess and Kate, corn and slopped the hogs.

            “Reuben.  I mean Rondy,” yelled Ma.  “Pick some blackberries for a pie.”                          I grabbed a bucket off the back porch and headed for the berry patch.  I didn’t like being the oldest youngin. 

            “Orrf!  Orrf!  Orrf!”  yelped ole’ Oscar, the foxhound.  He jumped to my shoulders and paw printed my overalls with mud.

            “Get down,” I scolded.

            Oscar drooped his ears and slinked away with his tail between his legs.

            I picked a handful of blackberries, plopped them into the bucket, and munched some.

            Oscar sneaked up and nudged my elbow.  He whined and I gave him berries. 

            “Orrf!  Orrf!  Orrf!” He smacked his lips and thumped his tail.

            “You ain’t getting more,” I told him.

            We headed to the log cabin and Ma made a berry pie for the dinner on the ground.

            Pa and I hitched the team to the wagon.  Reuben and Robert got hay from the barn for the back of the wagon.  They threw straw at each other and it covered the ground.  The mules heehawed and I grabbed their reins.

            “Stop that tomfoolery,” I ordered.

            “You ain’t our Pa,” said Ralph.

            “Just cause you’re oldest, don’t mean you can boss us,” said Robert.

            “Howdy, Otis!” yelled Reuben and stuck out his tongue.

            I flew mad.  Otis was a hermit who lived in the holler.  Even in summer, he wore a toboggan and smelled like a polecat.  I darted to the peach tree to cut a switch.

            The boys took off to the corncrib with Oscar howling at their heels.  I picked up the hay and tossed it into the back of the wagon, then covered it with a quilt.

            Ralph put straight backed chairs on the wagon for Ma and Pa.  Reba, Robenia, and Rena dashed out the door with our food.  Ma carried baby Ray.

            “Who got the tablecloth?” asked Ma.  “Rondy, fetch it.”

            I rushed to the house and resented doing the most work.

            The youngins laughed, poked each other and enjoyed the ride down the bumpy road.  I chewed a straw and stared at the mountains.  Pa drove the team across Hyatt Mill Creek, then forked toward Hayesville, North Carolina.

            “Rondy’s got a sweetheart,” said Reba.

            “Rondy’s sweet on Blanche,” said Rena and giggled.

            “Rondy’s going to meet Blanche at the singing convention,” added Robenia.

            I dropped my head and listened to the singing as we climbed the hill to town.

            Pa told me to tie the horses to a tree.  The youngins zipped into the red brick courthouse to the singing convention.

            I sat in the back of the courthouse with Blanche.  I thought she was the prettiest gal I’d ever seen.

            “It’s good to see you,” she whispered and blushed.

            I held her hand as we listened to the shape-note music.

            Uncle Luther Matheson and his quartet sang the song he wrote, “Will He be Ashamed of Me.”  The crowd kept applauding until they did an encore.  His group won the banner at the convention.

            After the singing convention, we gathered under the maples and spread our picnic lunches on tablecloths across the ground.

            I ate with Blanche as my brothers and sisters romped over the courthouse yard hollering like hyenas.

            Pa offered Blanche and me pieces of fried chicken.  He gazed at the rambunctious youngins.

            “Son, I’m glad I can always depend on you,” he said and touched my shoulder.

            I thought my heart would burst with joy.  It was good to be the oldest in my family.

Lick Skillet School

 Rondy Ledford (my father) and his siblings Ralph, Reba, Rena, Reuben, Robert, Robenia, and Ray attended Lick Skillet School.  It was a little one-roomed school located deeply in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Hayesville, North Carolina.



"Mind your teacher!" yelled Ma Ledford as she shooed her young'uns out the door.  They walked two miles to Lick Skillet School that was located on Myers Chapel Road.  On warm days, the children went barefooted.



The children made it to school just as the bell rang.  School started at 8:00 each morning.  Miss Opal Crawford stood on the steps of the little white-plank school and rang the bell.  "Good morning, scholars," she said with a smile.  "Hurry and take your seats.  You have a lot to learn today."



Rondy, Ralph, Reba, Rena, Reuben, Robert, Robenia, and Ray put their lunch buckets on a shelf in the cloak room.  Ray got a dipper full of water from the bucket.

Reba poked him in the ribs.  "You better not drink all that water.  You'll have to go to the outhouse before recess.  Miss Crawford won't like that."



Ray stuck out his tongue at Reba.  He drank the full dipper of water.

The young'uns took their seats in the one-room school.  Girls sat on one side and boys on the other.  Children who misbehaved had to sit on the opposite side--a punishment that sometimes backfired.  Reuben had a crush on a little red-headed girl and enjoyed being sent to the girl's side to sit beside his girlfriend.



The one-room school included a blackboard, desks, the teacher's desk, and a potbelly stove.  The older boys carried buckets of coal into the classroom.  Students often asked the teacher if they could dust the erasers.  What a pleasure to get outside, get out of work to dust the erasers.

The day started with the students giving the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and singing, "The Star Spangled Banner."  Miss Crawford read from the Bible and they had prayer in the classroom.



Then the scholars started working on their morning assignments.  They practiced penmanship on slates.  Miss Crawford called students to the blackboard to work arithmetic problems.  She called groups to the front of the room.  The scholars memorized spelling words and read from the McGuffey's Readers.



The morning flew and it was time for recess.  The boys played ball.  The girls went to the woods and cleaned out spots for a playhouse.  They used moss for furniture and little pieces of glass they could find for dishes.



The children had an hour for lunch.  After they ate, the pupils played games such as:  Ring Around the Rosy, hopscotch, Andy Over, Kick the Can, Drop the Handkerchief, and other games.



Recess ended too soon.  Miss Crawford rang the bell for the afternoon session of school.  Sometimes they held spelling bees.  She wrote the homework on the blackboard and dismissed school at 4:00.



It was a busy day at Lick Skillet School.  The children received a good education at the little one-room school that served as the heart of the community.  People also voted there, held cake walks, benefit singings, and square dances.  The community was proud of their school and supported the schoolmarm.



Today Chatuge Shores Golf Course rolls over the hill where Lick Skillet School stood.  A golfer swings his club and strikes a ball.  It twangs like the softball some pioneer scholar once struck on the same green spot.

Making Sorghum Syrup

Ma Ledford crawled out of the featherbed just as the rooster crowed.  If only she could sleep longer, but this would be a busy day.


Today the family planned to make sorghum syrup.  It would be a big job and she dreaded it.  At least it was Saturday.


She loved her children, but they ran her crazy sometimes.  It was like herding oxen to get them out of bed, feed them, dress the youngest ones and get them off to school.  Work never ended on the farm.


Bob Ledford helped as much as he could, but he worked seven days a week on the farm.  Ma fussed at him to rest on the Lord's day, but livestock had to also eat on Sunday.


Her brother, Luther Matheson, cautioned her about marrying a "poor dirt farmer."  But she fell in love with the handsome Bob Ledford.  After seven children, she never regretted living with him in the Matheson Cove.


This morning her legs and back hurt.  She was expecting a baby and couldn't help in the cane patch.  First of all, the blades had to be stripped from the stalks.  Then you cut them down and put them into piles, next cut off the seed heads.


Then the boys would load the cane and take it to the mill.  A mule pulled the pole that turned the mill.  Cane was fed into the vertical rollers like a washing machine.  Juice squeezed from the cane and flowed down a spout to the boiler where it was boiled from one vat to another.  You skimmed foam off the top until it came out a nice, clear brownish red color.


Ma dreaded the yellow jackets that swarmed when you made syrup.  Dozens flocked to the cane.  You had to keep them out of the syrup.  She hoped her children wouldn't get stung.  She would remind Bob to bring chewing tobacco to spit juice on the stings to draw out the poison.


Last year they made 90 gallons of sorghum syrup.  But with a large family, they would need that much.  It sure tasted good on hot, buttered biscuits. Making sorghum syrup took all day, but it was worth all the hard work.


by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

First Car in Clay County, NC

The Ledford family lived way back in the country in the Matheson Cove.  They seldom went to the mountain town of Hayesville, NC.  It took almost half a day to get there on wagon or horseback in the early 1900's.


But this was a special day.  Reuben announced to the family at breakfast, "Pa, I heard there's one of those motorcars coming to Hayesville today.  Can we go?"


Pa saucered his coffee to cool it.  Then he took a long sip of Ma's fresh-ground coffee.  He winked at Ma and said, "Good coffee, Minnie."


She giggled and blushed like a teenager.  "Bob, why don't you let the young'uns go to town?  I need to stop at my brother's store and get some provisions."


Bob smiled and said, "I reckon we can go see the motorcar.  After morning chores, we'll load up the wagon.  Won't hurt to lay aside farm work for one day."


"Yea!" shouted Rondy, Reba, Ralph, Rena, Robert, Robenia, Reuben, and Ray.


So Pa and the young'uns joined a crowd on the town square while Ma Minnie shopped in Luther Matheson's country store.  Folks lined up on both sides of the street waiting for Dr. Samuel O'Neil to drive into town.


He was the first optometrist in Clay County.  Dr. Sam, his wife Ollie, and son, Sam, lived in Clarksville, Georgia.  It took seven hours to reach Hayesville.


"There was not a foot of paved road," said Ollie O'Neil.  "The roads were so narrow tree branches from either side almost met in the middle of the road.  We had about six flat tires on the way, maybe four."


When Dr. Sam chugged into Hayesville in his Ford roadster, it caused an uproar.  Chickens squawked, horses spooked and ran off the road.  People cheered and chased the motorcar through town.


Some folks had never seen an automobile.  It was like the apocalypse when the O'Neil family rackety-put-putted in their horseless carriage through the remote Blue Ridge Mountains.


After the motorcar spectacle, the Ledford family headed home in their wagon.  The young'uns were wound up tighter than a ball of twine.


"Pa, can we get a motorcar?" asked Reba. 


Pa shook his head.  "I wouldn't have a motorcar if they gave me one.  My little mules are reliable.  Just feed them some grain and they'll work to anything.  Motorcars are expensive, tear up, and have flat tires.  My mules won't ever go flat.  Those horseless carriages won't last."


by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

Farming in the Matheson Cove

Work never ended on the farm.  Raising livestock and crops took a lot of time and labor.


Bob Ledford worked sunrise to sunset in the Matheson Cove.  He was a small man, but strong and handsome.  Farming began each spring.


He got the turning plow, hitched the mules, and prepared the ground for planting.  Like other mountain folks, he consulted the "Farmer's Almanac" to plant according to the signs.


After plowing the field, he went over it with a disc harrow and laid off the rows.  Then all the family:  Ma, Rondy, Reba, Ralph, Robert, Robenia, Rena, Reuben, and Ray got compost from the barn.


They planted corn, cane, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, green beans, and watermelons. When the vegetables ripened, Ma and the girls canned them.  They also pickled beans, corn, and cucumbers.  They dried fruit and made kraut from cabbage.


Each fall they dug the potatoes.  Since there was not enough room in the cellar for everything, Bob piled potatoes on a bed of straw, covered them with dirt.  The boys took sweet potatoes to the neighborhood curing house.


After harvest, the Ledford family butchered the hog around Thanksgiving.  They dipped it into hot water, lifted it, and scraped off hair.  Then they hung the hog upside and took out the insides.  The liver, lights (lungs), and heart were saved. 


They wasted no part of the hog.  The guts were split, washed, and boiled with lye to make soap.  It didn't smell well, but sure cut the dirt.


Labor never ended on the farm, but they worked together.  The children learned responsibility, work ethics, and the value of family and community.


by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

The Prodigal Son

 

 

            Bob and Minnie Matheson Ledford’s deepest desire was to rear their children to become upright citizens in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Clay County, North Carolina.

            That was a challenge during the 1930’s.  Eight children could find many things to lead them astray in the Matheson Cove.  The boys got into fights and the girls argued.  Peace often alluded the Ledford’s household.

            No wonder Bob grabbed a hickory switch and led rowdy kids to the woodshed.  Reuben stuck his brogans into his mouth often.

            One day Reuben and Rondy got into a fight.  Reuben loved to tease his older brother because he “bossed” him around.  About the time the boys started to hit each other, Bob stepped up.

            “Break it up!” he hollered.  “I’m fed up with your boys fighting.  I’m going to tie your tails together and throw you over the clothesline like two old tomcats.”

            Reuben stuck out his tongue at his pa and told him to shut up.

            Now the fat was in the fireplace.  Bob broke a limb off the walnut tree.  “I’ll make you holler ‘calf rope.’  No son’s going to backtalk me.  Let’s go to the woodshed.”

            Reuben took off like a scaled foxhound to Shewbird Mountain.  Bob gained ground on Reuben.  But the rebellious kid climbed a poplar tree before Bob grabbed him by the seat of the overalls.

            Bob told him to come down, or he would whip the shirt off his back.

            Reuben laughed, unbuttoned his shirt, and threw it to the ground.

            Bob’s face turned red as a cherry tomato.  He stomped the ground and shouted, “Wait until you get home!  Just wait!” He headed to the house and drank a dipper full of water from the bucket in the kitchen.

            When it got dark, Reuben shimmied down the tree and slipped to the barn.  He climbed the ladder and spent the night shivering in the hay loft.  The next morning his stomach growled.  He could just taste Ma Ledford’s biscuits, gravy, sausage and fried eggs.  Whipping or not, he was hungry and decided to go home.

            Ma, Pa, and the young’uns were wolfing down breakfast at the kitchen table.  Reuben sneaked like a chicken-killing dog and took his place beside little Ray at the table.  No one said a word.

            Pa peered over his spectacles at Reuben.  “Want some biscuits?” he asked and passed the plate.

            Reuben wondered why Pa never took him to the woodshed.  Perhaps he had learned his lesson staying all night in the barn alone, cold, and hungry.  The Prodigal Son came home.

 

 

 

 

Wash Day

 

 

            Angry clouds loomed above the Matheson Cove in 1930.  Ma Minnie Ledford urged her daughters to help with the laundry before the afternoon storm stuck.

            “Let’s go to the creek, girls,” said Ma Minnie.  “It’s wash day and we need to get the laundry done before an afternoon storm pounds the cove.”

            “I don’t want to wash clothes,” said Robenia and flipped flaming red hair from her freckled face.  She played forward on the basketball team in the old rock gym at Hayesville High School.  She lived, breathed, and savored basketball.  The school was having a break for spring planting in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

            “Look, here, Beanie,” said Ma.  “There’s more to life than basketball.”

            Robenia pouted and ambled to the spring with Reba and Rena.  Robins landed in the yard and spread an orange blanket on verdant grass.  Jonquils dotted the woodland trail and perfumed the Matheson Cove.  Cattle bawled in the pasture.

            Pa, Rondy, Ralph, Robert, and Ray were planting corn seed in the field.  They raised corn to feed the family and livestock.  When they harvested the crop, the boys took tow sacks of grain to the mill to grind into cornmeal.

            Rena pointed to the field.  “Why don’t the boys help us wash?  That’s not fair.  They get out of doing the hard work.”

            Ma ignored Rena and wiped sweat from her brow as she built a fire.  An iron pot hung over the fire.  She would boil the clothes after they washed them in a tub of soapy water.  After the clothes boiled, they rinsed them in a tub of fresh water.

            Ma and the girls dipped the clothes that needed to be ironed into a bucket of starch before hanging them on the line.

            “Well, we’re finished with the washing,” said Ma.  “Thanks girls.  Let’s go to the house and fix supper for Pa and the boys.”

            After a hardy meal of leather breeches, fried Irish potatoes, cornbread, buttermilk, and custard pie, the girls got the clothes off the line.  They sprinkled the garments with water and wrapped them in a towel to stay damp.  Dry cotton would not iron well.  Tomorrow they would spend most of the day ironing.

            Irons were heated on top of the woodstove or in the fireplace.  They had to be careful and wipe off any ashes that got on the iron. 

            Wash day and ironing took a lot of time and work.  But Ma Minnie Ledford wanted her family to be clean.  The Great Depression would take away her dignity.  After all cleanliness was next to godliness.

 

Moonshine Capital of the South

            Robenia Ledford pounced on her Ma during the spring of 1942 way back in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Clay County, North Carolina.

            “Ma, can I spend the night with Ida Mae?  You never let me do anything fun.”

            “I don’t know, Beanie,” said Ma.  “Ask your pa.”

            Robenia heel staved to the corncrib with red hair flying in the wind.  Breathless, she asked Pa if she could stay all night with her best friend.

            Pa looked up from shelling corn.  “Good help is hard to find.  You’re just in time to help feed the livestock.”

            “Ain’t got time for that.  I want to stay all night with Ida Mae.”

            Pa frowned and spat tobacco juice on the ground.  “Thunderations!  That family lives at Tusquittee.  It’s the moonshining capital of the south.  Ain’t safe to spend the night there.  Go help your ma churn buttermilk.”

            Robenia stomped her feet and headed to the house.  She wiped tears from her freckled face.

            Reba and Rena asked why she was crying.  They begged Ma to let Robenia spend the

night with Ida Mae.

            When Pa came to the house, Ma had a “chimney corner” meeting with him.  After a lengthy discussion, Robenia’s parents gave her permission to spend the night with her friend.

            Robenia took off like a racehorse to her friend’s house.  She stopped at Emma Dean Passmore’s home and her pa took them in his wagon to Tusquittee.  He let them off at the foot of Julie Knob.

            They cut through the woods to Ida Mae’s place.  Frogs croaked on Tusquittee Creek and shadows fell over the trail.  Emma Dean grabbed Robenia’s arm when the sky filled with a shower of sparks. 

            “My goodness!” yelled Emma Dean.  “The world’s coming to an end.”

            Robenia giggled.  “Don’t you remember our science lesson at school?  Mr. Penland told us the Lyrid meteor shower would come in April.”

            The girls tromped over the trail to Ida Mae’s house.  They jumped when they heard an explosion on the creek.  The girls didn’t stop running until they reached Ida Mae’s front porch.

            Later they learned that some moonshiners were making white lightning on the creek.  The still exploded, but they dove into the thickets and escaped injury.

            When Robenia returned to the Ledford’s house, she spun a tall tale.  Pa laughed and reminded her that she got fair warning about the “Moonshine Capital” of the South.

 

Home Remedies

"My ears hurt," cried Rena and crawled into Ma Minnie Ledford's lap.


Ma rocked her little girl and sang, "Hush little baby, don't say a word..."


But Rena bawled louder.  Nothing could console her. Ma told Ralph to get the sewing machine oil.  She put a few drops into Rena's ears and soon she fell asleep.  Ma put her to bed.


About that time, Reuben raced through the living room coughing like a steam engine.  He let loose and coughed in Reba's face.


"Ma, Reuben coughed in my face.  I'll get the flu.  He has no manners at all."


Pa interjected, "Stop that, Reuben.  If you ain't got no sense, you could have some manners."


He didn't mean to do that," said Ma.  "Come here, baby."


She hugged Reuben.  About the time she started to kiss him, Reuben reared back and sneezed.  He sprayed her face with spit.


Ma rubbed lard and turpentine on Reuben's chest.  For extra protection, she tied a dirty black sock around his neck with the heel centered over the Adam's apple.


"Shoo! I can't stand that stink," yelled Reuben and started untying the sock.


"Leave that sock on your neck," said Pa.  "That will cure your cold.  Now go to bed."


Ma dragged to the kitchen to fix supper.  She hoped none of her other children got sick.  As she kneaded dough, Robert pulled her apron strings.


"My head hurts," he said.


Ma felt his forehead and it was hot as coals of fire.  She sent him to the chest-of-drawers for a flour sack.  Despite his protests, she tied the sack around his head.  "That will cure your headache," she said.


Next Robenia whizzed through the kitchen to see if supper was ready.  "I hate my freckles," she said.  "I look like a beagle pup!  Do you have anything I can rub on my face, Ma?"


Ma caressed her red-headed daughter's face.  She assured Robenia that she was beautiful, freckles and all.


But Robenia wouldn't accept that.  She grabbed the bucket and headed to the spring to fetch water.  Reba had told her to put stump water on her face to get rid of the freckles.


Robenia found a stump where Pa cut wood for the fireplace.  It had rained that morning and was full of water.  She splashed stump water on her face to clear up the freckles.


To make sure the home remedy worked, Robenia got baby Ray's rabbit foot from his crib.  She put it around her neck for good luck.


Finally, Ma Minnie finished her chores and it was bedtime.  Her feet cramped from standing all day.  She recalled her granny's old-time remedy.  Minnie turned her shoes upside down before she went to bed.  She also put a Bible under her pillow to prevent nightmares and said her prayers.


by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

Decoration Day

Despite the protests, Ma Minnie Ledford ran her kids out of bed early on Sunday morning.  She would not allow anyone to "sleep in" on the Lord's day.

"Rise and shine," she yelled.  "Wash up, eat your breakfast and get ready for Myers Chapel."

"Oh, no!" moaned Ralph.  "Can't we stay at home and get some shut eye?"  asked Robert.

Ma frowned and shook her head.  That was a definite no.

After a hardy breakfast, Rondy, Ralph, Robert, and Reuben headed to the barn to milk the cow and feed the livestock.  They helped Pa hitch the mules to the wagon for church.

The girls dragged their feet getting ready.  Reba, Robenia, and Rena kept primping before the mirror.  They had their eyes on some boys at church and wanted to impress them.

"Lands sakes!"  said Ma.  "You would think you girls were going to the White House to meet President Hoover.  Church will dismiss before we get there."

Ma carried a poke of flowers to the wagon.  She and the girls had made crepe roses to decorate the graves at church.  It was decoration day,

"Reba, get baby Ray from the crib.  Get the box of food, Robenia," added Ma.

Pa helped Ma on the wagon and she cuddled baby Ray as they rode to church.  The narrow road wound through the Matheson Cove and the wagon bounced over ruts.  When it rained, the wagon got stuck in the mud.

Ma kissed her baby and recalled when he was born.  The mail carrier, Mr. Andy Padgett, wondered what she would name her child.  After all, she had given each of her seven children names that began with the letter R.

"What will Mrs. Ledford name her eighth child?" asked Mr. Padgett.  "I guess she will call him Rabbit," he said and laughed.

But Minnie came up with another name beginning with the letter R.  She called him Ray Andrew Ledford.  She was proud when her son grew up and became a preacher.  Her oldest son, Rondy, also was called as an ordained Baptist minister and was pastor of many churches in Clay County, NC.

Now as she held baby Ray, she hummed the hymn, "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so..."  The family broke loose singing with her and they finally made it to church.

Ma's brother, Luther Matheson, was leading the choir with shaped-note music.  The congregation tapped their toes and clapped their hands with the peppy song, "I'll Fly Away."

Joy filled the little country church.  Suddenly, Aunt Mae Hall (Pa's sister) got happy and shouted all over the church.  Her red hair unpinned from the bun on her head and flowed as she praised the Lord.

It was decoration day.  The guest preacher, Dr. George W. Truett, delivered the sermon.  He was a world-renown Baptist preacher born and reared in Clay County, NC.

Worship service ended around 1:00.  Everyone was starved and could hardly wait to dive into the food spread on tables under the maple trees.

The mountain women outdid themselves cooking.  They brought homemade strawberry cobblers, buttermilk pie, chocolate cake, banana pudding, blackberry jam, green beans, corn-on-the-cob, fried chicken, pork chops, molasses, biscuits, cornbread, buttermilk, lemonade, and iced tea.

After lunch they decorated the graves of loved ones.  Then folks gathered in the church for an afternoon of singing gospel songs.  Several groups performed.

As dusk fell, Ma and Pa loaded the sleepy younguns on the wagon and headed to the Matheson Cove.  Whippoorwills resounded on Shewbird Mountain and a Full Flower Moon glowed on the faces of the Ledford family.

by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

Going Barefooted

Each spring Rondy Ledford looked forward to the jonquils blooming in the Matheson Cove.  That's when he and the young'uns could kick off their brogans and go barefooted!


"Ma, when I got a bucket of water at the spring this morning, I saw the jonquils coming up," said Rondy.  "Can I go barefooted?"


"No, son.  It's too early to pull off your shoes. You young'uns would get the flu.  Wait until the flowers bloom."  She smiled and patted his curly black hair.


A joint groan came from Rondy, Reba, Ralph, Robert, Reuben, Robenia, and Rena.  Even baby Ray whined.


"Hush your moaning," said Ma.  "You boys go to the front porch.  Robert just got his barber's kit from Sears and Roebuck catalog."  She shooed them out the door with her apron.


"Ain't no way old Doe's going to cut my hair," yelled Reuben.  "He would scalp me."


Reuben took off to the outhouse with Rover at his heels howling.  Ralph and Rondy caught Reuben and dragged him to the "barber's chair."  He kicked and squealed as they held him.


Doe's razor hummed as he mowed off red hair.  It piled up on the porch like hay.  "Let me go, Doe!" pleaded Reuben.  At last he finished the hair cut.


Reuben looked at his reflection in the living room window.  "Oh, my Lord!" he hollered.  "I'll have to wear a toboggan the rest of my life.  I'm ruint!"


The other boys jumped back like rabbits from the barber's chair.  But Pa gave them a stern look, and they reluctantly let ole Doe lower their ears.


That afternoon it got so warm the boys broke out sweating as they planted taters in the field.  They begged Pa to let them go barefooted.


"Don't tell Minnie," said Pa.  "You can go barefooted just this afternoon.  Careful and don't stump your toes.  You'll have to let Ma put some rags and Red Rose salve on them if you get hurt."


The boys peeled off their brogans and headed to Hyatt-Mill Creek.  Ralph climbed a sourwood tree and swung on a fox grape vine and splashed into the cold water.  The other boys grabbed vines and sailed like flying squirrels through the trees.


As the sun set like beets over Shewbird Mountain, the boys put on their brogans and trotted to the log cabin.  They never told Ma about their going barefooted that afternoon.


by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

The Plunge

Before the Polar Plunges,
kids in the Matheson Cove
sneaked to Hyatt Mill Creek,
and went skinny dipping.


Kids in the Matheson Cove
scattered their clothes on bushes,
and went skinny dipping;
teeth chattering in icy waters.


Scattered their clothes on bushes,
held to the limbs,
teeth chattering in icy waters;
dipping into the deep.


Before the rooster crowed,
they sneaked to Hyatt Mill Creek,
and made history
before the Polar Plunges.
                      --Brenda Kay Ledford

The Rolling Store

Barbara Virginia was Rondy and Blanche's first baby and the first grandchild in the Ledford family.  They lavished her with love.

Grandma Minnie and Granddaddy Bob Ledford lived in the Matheson Cove.  They bragged to everyone about their beautiful grandchild, even to the rolling store clerk.

The store truck covered the mountain  communities in Clay County, NC.  The back roads twisted with hairpin curves and cars got stuck in the mud when it rained.  Many mountain folks rarely went to town to shop.  The store on wheels served a great need for groceries and dry goods.

"I hear the rolling store coming up Murray Holler," said Reba.  "Its tires are click-clacking over the gravel road."

"Buy me a Baby Ruth candy bar," said Robenia.  "I want an RC Cola and moonpie," yelled Reuben.  "Me, too!" chimed Rena, Ray, Robert, and Ralph.

"Quiet!" yelled Ma Ledford.  "You younguns stay here at the house and watch baby Barbara.  Rondy and Blanche went to the picture show."

She put on a shawl and stocking cap and scurried to meet the rolling store.

"Where's your grandchild?" asked the store truck clerk.

"She's taking a nap.  The younguns are watching her."

The clerk arched his eyebrows.  "You sure that's a good idea?" he asked with a chuckle.

"My children are very responsible," huffed Ma Ledford.  "This is all I'll need today," she added and rushed down the steps of the truck to the house.  She toted the box of groceries herself and refused help from the clerk.

She barely put the box on the kitchen table when the kids dove into the groceries.  "Hold it, you old goosey things," hollered Ma Ledford.  "Reba, go get baby Barbara.  I want to give her a dose of Karo syrup.  That will make her strong and healthy."

Reba couldn't find Barbara.  Ma trembled and feared someone had stolen her grandchild.  The children searched everywhere for Barbara.  They finally found her under the bed fast asleep.

When Rondy and Blanche returned from the picture show, they heard about Barbara getting lost many times, with many different versions of the story.

by:  Brenda Kay Ledford

Legacy of Love

Around the quilting bee,
a patchwork of grandmothers
left a legacy--life lessons
for a future generation.

Wearing flour sack aprons,
mountain women taught patience:
stitches no bigger than pinpricks,
to savor time, good stewards of life.

Grandma Minnie matched seams,
created patterns from scraps,
taught me to create my shape,
to choose a color scheme.

Great-Grandma Martha taught
me to lay aside work,
take time for pleasure;
a lesson she learned too late.

My kinfolks taught faith
in the Cathedral Windows,
beauty of Grandma's Zinnia Basket;
love in Grandmother's Engagement Ring.
                     --Brenda Kay Ledford